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FILE - In this Wednesday, April 26, 2017, Workers make preparations ahead of the 2017 NFL football draft, in Philadelphia. A North Carolina financial plannerâs prison sentence for stealing from pro football players offers a cautionary tale to young athletes set to make millions after the NFL draft. The instant millionaires may know where theyâll be playing professional football, but theyâre still figuring out how to manage their new wealth. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

Whether that occurs depends, in large part, on what happens in Austin this summer.

NFL officials have no interest in drawing a line in the ideological sand heading into next month's special session of the Texas Legislature. It's better to work behind the scenes than publicly antagonize at this stage. But the conclusion lawmakers reach on what bathrooms people are allowed to use impacts the Cowboys' opportunity to land the draft, multiple sources said.

Other factors and cities are in play for the event. But when the NFL does announce the location of the 2018 draft, the special session will be complete and where the state stands on transgender rights will be known.

"We expect to have a decision on the location of next year's draft later this summer/early fall," said Brian McCarthy, the NFL's vice president of communications.

The timing of the NFL's decision isn't tied to the Texas legislative schedule, which begins its special session July 18. The league has awarded the draft in August, September and October the last three years. But the timetable works to the league's advantage by letting the issue play out without inserting itself into what has become a contentious public debate.

Again.

A proposal that would have people use the bathroom that corresponds with the sex on their birth certificate was in the works before the state's regular legislative session. The potential fallout from the business community and sports leagues became a topic of conversation around the Super Bowl in Houston.

The NFL issued a release about inclusiveness and how its policies prohibit discrimination in the days leading up to the game. A few days after the game in early February, when asked specifically about the so-called bathroom bill, McCarthy issued this statement on behalf of the league:

"If a proposal that is discriminatory or inconsistent with our values were to become law there, that would certainly be a factor considered when thinking about awarding future events.''

The question was asked in relation to the state hosting another Super Bowl, and that is how McCarthy's response was applied. The headline became how Texas was in danger of losing out on future Super Bowls if the bathroom bill became law.

But the statement read "future events." It didn't limit the league's response to the Super Bowl.

The draft, like the Super Bowl, is an event to be awarded.

It will come as no surprise that Texas politicians had a problem with a league stationed in New York weighing in on the matter. Gov. Greg Abbott suggested the NFL needed to concentrate on football and "get the heck out of politics."

You won't hear the NFL say anything now because of that outburst by the governor. It would be counterproductive.

That doesn't mean there's any equivocation on the league's stance.

There's no upside to the Cowboys' commenting at this moment, either. The issue was last addressed four months ago by owner Jerry Jones at the league's scouting combine in Indianapolis.

"Any time social issues have the consequence of impacting what we're doing at AT&T or what we're doing with our team, then that gets my attention,'' Jones said at the time. "I hope how that is ultimately resolved is a nonevent and not impactful on what we do with our events.

"That's the best I can do there."

The Cowboys aren't alone in wanting to host the draft in 10 months. Twenty-two teams/cities have expressed interest. There were representatives from 16 of those interested parties, including Canton, the site of the Hall of Fame, in Philadelphia at this year's draft to get a feel for how the event was run.

The Cowboys are considered the frontrunner in most circles. Their proposal is the only one split over two sites, staging the event at AT&T Stadium for the first two days and moving to The Star for the third. The club believes this would be the best way to showcase the event locally, but it does come at some additional cost to the NFL.

Executive vice president and chief operating officer Stephen Jones has let the league know while this is the Cowboys' preference, it's not a deal-breaker.

"We're willing to work with them," Stephen Jones said on how the Cowboys will respond if the NFL wants to limit the draft to one venue. "We'll work with what their preference is.

"But the other thing I'd say is I think the NFL has done a good job of listening to us as well. They're open-minded to what our views are."

This is one of many factors under consideration by the league. But in the end, the NFL's decision on whether the Cowboys host next year's draft won't come down to the club's ability to stage the event at one or two venues. It will come down to what the Texas legislature does on bathroom access.

Officials with the NFL and Cowboys know that, whether they say it publicly or not.